If you are searching for an extraordinary plant for your home. Then your search ends here because today’s post is all about the rare alocasia lauterbachiana care and maintenance.
Alocasia lauterbachiana is also called the purple sword plant and it is the most beautiful alocasia plant. As you can see in the image above.
It has beautiful dual-color long-size leaves with zig-zag edges.
These things make alocasia purple sword a special plant for beautiful homes.
Alocasia lauterbachiana needs moderate humidity, warm temperature, and indirect light to grow. Watering the purple sword plant is just like watering any other Alocasia.
Other popular alocasia are: Alocasia Cuprea, Alocasia Stingray, Alocasia frydek.
About the plant
Alocasia Lauterbachiana is naturally found in the jungles of South Asia and Indonesia.
It belongs to the Araceae family of plants.
It grows 4 feet tall in rainforests and spread about 2 to 3 feet with a total leaf size of 2 feet.
Common Names
- Purple Sword
- Silversword
- Elephant Ear Lauterbachiana
- Baroque Sword
It has long glossy green color leaves with wavy edges, purple veins, and purple undersides.
Purple sword produces purple color flowers that look like anthuriums. There is no specific flowering season for these plants.
As long as you give it perfect growing conditions it will continue producing flowers.
It will flower for 365 days if you give it the proper care and ideal growing environment.
Quick care guide
| Common Names | Purple sword plant, Silver sword |
| Size | 3 to 4 feet tall and 2 to 2.5 wide |
| Light | Filtered but bright light |
| Humidity | 70% |
| Temperature | 18 to 25 degrees C |
| Toxicity | Toxic if ingested |
| Pests | Aphids, Mealybugs |
| Diseases | Droopy leaves, Root rot |
How do you care for Alocasia lauterbachiana?
To grow a healthy Alocasia lauterbachiana plant you need to make a strict plant caring routine.
You need to know the basics of Alocasia care and its maintenance needs. Below is the complete information on how to grow Alocasia lauterbachiana in different parts of your home.
Also, how to deal with the Common Alocasia lauterbachiana problems.
Light requirements
Alocasia purple sword plant does well in indirect bright light. Do not expose it to direct sun rays.
They can damage the soft foliage of purple sword alocasia.
Once the leaves get damaged due to sunlight. You cannot revive them with any method. Because the sunlight will burn the leaves and make them brown.
It is not possible to turn brown crispy leaves green again.
If you see the brown tip on your Alocasia lauterbachiana, this means you need to change its place. Your plant is fighting a high-intensity light.
Low light signs are stretchy or leggy growth. In this condition, the plant starts growing toward the source of light.
It produces few leaves with faded colors and longer stems.
The second option is the use of grow lights, you can use any brand grow light with power wattage between 200 to 300 Watts.
Install it 40 cm above the plants and turn it ON for 7 to 8 hours per day.
Note: Do not turn ON the grow light at night. Because it will disturb the natural behavior of plants. Let them take a rest in the dark at night.
Soil
The first thing is this plant needs rich organic well-draining soil.
You cannot use your garden soil. This will result in root rot and leaf-related problems.
Take a general-purpose high-quality potting soil and mix some parts of coco coir to make it Well draining.
Then to increase its moisture-holding capacity add a few parts of perlite.
After that mix these ingredients and Your Alocasia lauterbachiana soil is ready.
The last thing you need to keep in mind is Alocasias need slightly acidic soil for better growth.
The pH of the Alocasia lauterbachiana potting soil should be between 5.5 to 6.5. Below or above this range will cause problems like nutrient deficiencies and salt build-ups.
Watering Alocasia purple sword
Watering is a tricky part because this plant is prone to root rot and you need to protect your plant from overwatering.
In general water your purple alocasia once in 2 weeks in summer and once in 3 weeks in winter.
In some cases, this guideline does not work because many growers use their own soil recipe. The quality of soil highly impacts the watering frequencies.
Therefore, you need to do the soil test before watering.
Let the top 3 inches of the soil dry before watering and check whether it is dry or not.
Insert your index finger in the pot.
Do not water if the soil has sufficient moisture. Do not worry about the dryness, your purple sword can handle a few dry soil conditions.
Temperature
18 to 24 degrees C is the perfect temperature range for the best Alocasia lauterbachiana care.
Generally, we have our home temperature between 16 to 25 degrees C. This is not a problem for the plant.
But remember that Alocasia lauterbachiana cannot tolerate sudden temperature changes in the surroundings.
If the temperature drops below 16 degrees C the plant start feeling cold and the sap starts freezing.
This fades the natural color of leaves and in rare cases, the leaves get infected by the leaf rot.
To keep eye on the temperature, take the help of a temperature monitor device.
Buy any normal range room temperature monitor from Amazon and install it in the growing space of Alocasia lauterbachiana.
Humidity
To give your plant the best care maintain the room humidity between 65 to 70% all the time.
This range is not possible for 365 days of the year. The humidity level of our homes changes according to the weather and the flow of fresh air.
Generally, we have home humidity above 45% and below the 70 %.
This range is good for alocasia plants.
In case of low humidity follow the below methods
- Use a water pebble tray under the plant pot
- Use an electric plant humidifier.
- Group all houseplants together
- Mist water on plant leaves
- Put the plant in the bathroom for 24 hours
Fertilization
Alocasia lauterbachiana needs a high amount of fertilizers because it grows 4 feet tall and spread 3 feet.
It is a tall houseplant and all tall plants are heavy feeders.
Use any brand of liquid fertilizer that has everything in it from essential nutrients to trace elements.
Then follow the instruction of the bottle and dilute the liquid with water. Then pour it directly into the base of the plants.
No need to spray fertilizer on the plant leaves Because this is not an air plant.
To reduce your fertilizer expenses, add organic-rich material in the potting soil like compost.
There is also a soil called pre-fertilized soil that contains every single nutrient in it. This type of soil is a little more costly than the normal general potting soil.
Toxicity
Alocasia lauterbachiana is toxic to dogs, cats, horses, and humans. It has a chemical called oxalate crystal which is highly toxic if ingested.
Swelling in the mouth and pain in the abdomen area are the symptoms of plant toxicity.
Keep your kids and pets away from the plants.
If they accidentally chew the plant leaves, immediately call the poison control center or visit the nearby hospital.
Alocasia lauterbachiana flower
Purple sword alocasia blooms if the growing conditions are just like the jungle environment.
Give it proper care, water, light, and humidity for blooming.
Once it starts blooming the flower will stay for a year. The only thing you need to do is maintain the ideal growing environment for Alocasia lauterbachiana care.
Generally, every plant has a particular flowering season.
But this plant does not have any particular time of blooming. It will continue blooming until you maintain the right growing conditions.
Trimming alocasia lauterbachiana
For a good healthy plant, you need to maintain a good routine of trimming.
Cut the unhealthy parts of the plant. The leaves that look old and turn yellow will cut at first.
Remove than to save the energy of your plant. The bottom leaves get aged first and they turn yellow and pale.
If your plant is under high bright light, it develops brown leaf edges. You need to change its place first and then cut the brown tips.
For trimming/ pruning, you should sharp shears. Use rubbing alcohol to sterilize the tools before use.
Propagating alocasia lauterbachiana
- Slowly remove the plant from its pot
- Shake the roots to remove the soil
- Cut the infected part of the roots.
- Separate the offsets from the plant.
- Ready a new pot with fresh soil
- Plant the division in the new pot and fill the remaining portion of the pot with fresh soil.
- Gently pat around the plant.
- Mist some water on the soil to make it moist.
Now place the plant pot in the best possible location for good Alocasia lauterbachiana care
Alocasia lauterbachiana problems
Root rot
This is the second most common problem with almost every type of houseplant.
Overwatering is the root cause of it but the use of the wrong soil increases the chances of root rot infections.
To protect your plants, water your Alocasia lauterbachiana carefully and follow our technique.
Also, use filtered water to prevent salt build-up like uncommon problems with the alocasia purple sword plant.
If your plant roots are already infected by fungus. Then follow the below steps
- Take the plant out of its pot
- Clean the roots and check the level of damage
- Then take a sharp knife or sharp to cut the infected part of the roots.
- Flush the old potting soil and use fresh soil.
- Wash the old pot with soap and dry it with a cloth.
- Fill it with fresh soil and plant your plant in it.
- Do not give water for 10 hours.
- After that give some water and put the pot in a bright indirect light location.
Alocasia lauterbachiana leaves dropping
Leaf dropping is the most common problem in Alocasia lauterbachiana plants. The lack of air moisture and low light causes droopy leaves.
Incorrect temperature and over-fertilization also trigger leaf dropping in Alocasia lauterbachiana plants.
Therefore, follow the best Alocasia lauterbachiana care guide to prevent leaf dropping like problems.
If your plant is suffering then check the all mentioned things. Correct them and your plant will thrive again.
